through cotton bags it is shell-lac. Lac-dye is an infusion of ground stick-lac. It is used as an orange-scarlet dye. Wafers are shown in the same collections with the sealing-wax. The common kinds consist merely of flour and water made into a paste, and coloured with various dyes. Transparent wafers are made of fine glue or isinglass. Cochineal (56) is the product of an insect very like that from which we derive lac, a species of coccus, also the female. It lives on cactus plants. Carmine is manufactured from it. Resins; Varnishes. (Exhibitors 62, 63, 64, 74). — Varnishes are solutions of resinous substances becoming solid in consequence of the evaporation of the solvent and resisting air and wet. Various resins are used, and various degrees of excellence attained in their manufacture. Insects in Turpentine. (61).—Near these are shown cases containing insects taken out of raw turpentine. They are interesting as illustrating the presence of insects in amber, which is a fossil resin, the product of some ancient coniferous tree. The insects in amber are, however, unknown species, now apparently quite extinct. Very rare kinds of existing insects are sometimes found entangled in raw turpentine. Mother-of-Pearl. (Exhibitors 109, 111.)-This beautiful substance, now so extensively used in papier-maché manufactures, is the nacreous layer of certain shells. The most common form of it is the produce of several species of Avicula, a bivalve shell abounding chiefly in tropical seas, and nearly allied to the oyster and scallop. The Indian and Pacific Oceans furnish the greater part of the Avicula used in commerce, Several distinct species are imported for this purpose. The green-ear shell, used for inlaying along with the Avicula, is a Haliotis, or ear-shell, a univalve intermediate in its characters between a Trochus and a limpet. Some large kinds are brought from New Zealand for this purpose; and the only species inhabiting the European seas, the Haliotis tuberculata, is collected in Guernsey, and exported for its mother-of-pearl. A large species of Turbo is brought from China with the same object, but especially to be used in the stronger kinds of pearlwork, such as making handles for knives, &c. Cameos are mostly cut on the shells of a species of Cassis. CLASS IX.-AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL Position of Groups.-In this Class, the collections of the different Exhibitors are kept together; and as these frequently contain most of the implements employed in husbandry, it is not practicable to indicate any especial groups. ALTHOUGH the number of implements exhibited on this occasion is not quite equal to that usually seen at the annual shows of the Royal Agricultural Society, still we have here fair specimens of those implements in general use by our most advanced agriculturists, and also some few others which are now for the first time introduced to the notice of the public. For the convenience of more readily leading the attention of the reader to the different articles exhibited, we have arranged them under four divisions, each of which will comprehend those implements most prominently pertaining to it; and to these four a fifth is added, in which will be found those articles which are to a greater or lesser extent, in use by farmers, but which cannot very suitably come under the other divisions. No. 1 comprises machines or implements which represent power, such as No. 2. Machines or implements operating on the surface, as Rollers, Crushers. No. 4. Machines used in the manufacture of farm produce Mills. Cyder Presses. Cheese Presses. No. 5. Machines or implements auxiliary to a farm establishment Carts. Weighing Machines. Beehives, &c. &c. The application of machinery generally has been most beneficial to agriculture, and has probably contributed more towards its advancement and towards the social improvement of the labourer, than any other of the numerous circumstances affecting land. In districts where the work of the farm is carried on by manual labour, the man is valued more according to his physical than to his mental qualifications: the latter is probably neglected or checked, as tending to make him dissatisfied with his condition, or at all events, as being useless to, or interfering with, the machinery of his muscles, and thus lowering his animal value to his employer. In such a district, the introduction of machinery is generally viewed with suspicion and distrust, from an idea that, by replacing manual labour, it must injure the existing labourer. But a little consideration will soon convince us of the error of such an opinion, as the machine can only represent one power, the physical, (strength), whereas the man consists of two, the physical (strength), and another the mental, or power of the mind (skill), to which the first is materially subject. If, therefore, we wish to improve the condition of the labourer and to develop his power, which is his value, to its fullest extent, we are acting in our own interest in giving up as much as we can of the merely physical (strength), in order to cultivate as much as possible the higher and more valuable faculties, those of the mind (skill). In this the interest of the employer is surely as deeply concerned as that of the employed. Here it is that the machine comes to our assistance; by it we can readily and profitably replace that which we wish to give up, and the advantages thus gained enable us to devote more attention to that which it is our interest to cultivate. Made of materials far more durable than thews and sinews, insensible to |